What have we done to improve our school this year? – February 2016

Governors have monitored the key priorities of the school improvement plan on their regular visits and held school leaders to account.

Key Issue 1: Raise achievement of all groups of pupils in reading

Improve the quality of teaching and the use of assessment to ensure that pupils’ skills in reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension are developed more quickly and securely.

Reinvigorate a ‘love of reading’ culture across the school community.

Actions:

Read, Write Inc. workshop for Ash class parents and reading workshops for the rest of the school have been well attended. (half completed to date – the rest are planned to take place this week and the week after half term).

Teachers given training on reading subject knowledge by the county expert and our English team.

New and improved planning for guided reading sessions (supported by the county adviser) used by teachers.

New books bought to support teaching the new curriculum objectives and for pupils in the higher bands of the reading scheme.

Reading champions selected, trained and started planning future actions. They have recently chosen new library books.

Teachers and learning support assistants have received training on Read, Write, Inc., language development and inference.

Teaching of reading has been monitored by the headteacher and English managers, feedback has been given and teaching has been reviewed again to assess the impact of training.

Read, Write, Inc. progress and attainment have been tracked using a more detailed system.

Reading moderation sessions with other schools attended so that teachers are confident with their assessments.

We have raised the status of reading on our website by keeping parents informed of events in advance and provided information on how they can best support their child at home.

Key Issue 2: Improve the quality of teaching

Ensure that all teaching is at least consistently good or better.

Build upon the improvements in practice in the teaching of maths and writing.

Further improve professional development opportunities, maximising the impact on colleagues and pupil progress.

Develop the monitoring of teaching and learning to ensure rapid impact on pupil progress.

Actions:

Two teachers have run projects to improve the quality of teaching in their subject area. This has been part of a local multi-school ‘Farnborough Excellence’ initiative and has been supported by the School Improvement Manager for our area in Hampshire. They have led staff training to improve the teaching of their subject area.

Maths mastery training has been provided to staff by the deputy headteacher on targeted areas of maths.

Additional experienced teachers have given pupils who are not working at age related expectations targeted support (particularly pupils with attached pupil premium) across the school. New trackers used to track the impact of their teaching.

Learning support assistants have received training in promoting pupil learning through questioning.

Class teachers have twice met with pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding individually to discuss their next steps, targets and to get their feedback on ensuring the curriculum is accessible to them.

English and maths leaders and individual teachers have worked closely with curriculum experts to further improve their planning and adaptations to teaching.

Teachers new to year groups have received extra training and support to ensure they are prepared for the different expectations.

Regular monitoring plan followed in which teachers have been given feedback on the quality of their teaching and the impact it has on pupil progress. This is reviewed to assess the impact of the feedback.

Quality of feedback reviewed in twilight sessions with a focus on different groups.

RWI and reading workshops parent workshops.

English and maths leaders and individual teachers have worked closely with curriculum experts to further improve planning and adaptations to teaching.

Teachers new to year groups have received extra training and support to ensure they are prepared for the different expectations.

Learning support assistants have training on leading the nurture group.

Two teachers have run projects to improve the quality of teaching in their subject area as part of a local multi-school ‘Farnborough Excellence’ initiative.

Key issue 4: Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management

Develop the new English team to ensure school improvement priorities are a consistent focus for all year groups.

Increase the impact of subject managers on the quality of teaching and learning of their subject across the school.

Improve the quality of information provided to governors from subject managers allowing them to then hold the school to account more effectively.

Actions:

Teachers on the English Team have attended training sessions and passed this on to the other teachers.

English, Maths, SEND, targeted teacher (for pupils with pupils premium) leaders have completed detailed end of phase data analysis of progress and attainment in their areas, assessed the impact of their actions on pupil attainment and planned for future improvement.

A teacher and the deputy headteacher have received leadership training.

Teachers have been given training time to share expertise as a result of training and to help and advice each other on how to improve.

Subject leaders have received training from county expert advisers.

Subject leaders in computing, English, music, maths, RWI and science have watched teaching and given teachers feedback on strengths and areas of development.

Two teachers have been part of a ‘growing middle leaders’ project and have completed training and monitoring to improve the teaching in the subject area across the school.

Our PE leader and teachers have taken part in a tailored training programme run by specialist mentors that have increased their skills, knowledge and confidence of our teachers in the planning, delivery and assessment of physical education.